MICHAEL REAGAN: A holly, jolly tax bill

The liberal media and Democrats, of course, hate what Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have done without a single Democrat vote.

They are trying their best to degrade, dismiss or deliberately misrepresent the broad benefits that the bill will bring to the half of American households that pay federal income taxes and to the economy in general.

But even some in the Trump-Hate Media have had to admit that the president ended his first busy and rocky year in office with a major political victory.

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Unlike all Democrats and a few cranky Republicans, I’m totally happy with the tax bill.

It’s not perfect and it’s not everything President Trump promised. But I have little doubt that, in the near term and long term, it will be good for the country, businesses, the Republican Party and middle-class taxpayers.

The tax bill is already paying huge dividends.

AT&T, Boeing, Wells Fargo and other companies, seeing how much they will save because their corporate tax rate has been slashed from 35 percent to 21 percent, are already raising their minimum wages to $15 an hour and handing out $1,000 bonuses to hundreds of thousands of their employees.

There’s no question the GOP tax bill is a lousy deal for high-tax-bracket people like me who live in a high-tax blue state like California or New York.

I pay a California state income tax of 13 percent and a sales tax of about 7 percent, both of which I used to be able to deduct when I itemized my federal taxes. Under the new laws that take effect in 2018, my deductible for state and local taxes will be capped at $10,000.

That will make me one of the tax bill’s net losers and almost make it not worth itemizing my taxes.

As I told my son, I’ll be able to do my 2018 taxes on a postcard — mainly because I’ve lost my biggest write-off.

I’ll just tell my accountant to send in a check for my 37 percent.

Actually, at this point, there’s probably no reason to have an accountant. I’ll just fire him and buy a bunch of postcards.

I’m OK with having to pay more in income taxes under the new rules.

What ticks me off are the Steven Moores and others in the Republican establishment who tell people who don’t like paying high state taxes that “You can move. You chose to live there.”

No actually, I was born here. My parents chose to live here.

In any case, for me, the mountains, oceans and deserts overshadow the high taxes and the lousy progressive state government that has made sure California has more takers than makers.

As I told my son and daughter-in-law, who live in California, they should be happier than heck with the new tax set-up and its higher standard deductions.

They don’t own a house, they’re both working and they’ll be able to claim two children in 2018.

They’ll be partaking of every benefit of the GOP tax bill.

So I have a suggestion for all you California 1-percenters who might be whining about the new tax bill today.

If you are lucky enough to have kids who are married with children, hit them up for a loan because they are the ones who are really going to be helped by this new tax bill.

Trump and the Republicans were right. Merry Christmas, middle America.